This annual lectureship honors Bernard W. Agranoff, a leader in biochemistry and an internationally recognized expert in the neurosciences. Dr. Agranoff is a graduate of the University of Michigan who returned as a faculty member in 1960. He served as the Director of Mental Health Research Institute (now known as the Michigan Neuroscience Institute) from 1985 to 1995 and was the Neuroscience Laboratory Building Director from 1983-2002.

Dr. Tsien is the Druckenmiller Professor of Neuroscience, Chair of the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, and Director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute at New York University Medical Center, and also an emeritus faculty member of Stanford University School of Medicine.